Jordan's Environmental Policies and Engagement on Climate Change

Helpdesk Report Jordan’s environmental policies and engagement on climate change Emilie Combaz Independent researcher and consultant in social sciences 10 June 2019 Question Please provide an overview of Jordan’s environmental policies and engagement on climate change, especially on water and energy. Discuss Jordanian domestic policies, regional engagement, and global engagement, as they relate to adaptation and resource management for human security or stability. Describe Jordan’s plans and, where possible, brief assessments of their gaps and implementation, and the political economy underlying them. There is no need to cover Jordan’s involvement in major international climate instruments and institutions, such as those at the UN. Contents 1. Overview ______________________________________________________________ 2 2. State of knowledge and gaps ____________________________________________ 3 3. General Jordanian policies and engagement on climate change _____________ 4 4. Water ________________________________________________________________ 11 5. Energy _______________________________________________________________ 15 6. Appendix: Jordan’s domestic and regional policies and engagement with links to its involvement at the UN ______________________________________________ 22 7. English-language references cited in the report ___________________________ 26 8. Further references _____________________________________________________ 28 The K4D helpdesk service provides brief summaries of current research, evidence, and lessons learned. Helpdesk reports are not rigorous or systematic reviews; they are intended to provide an introduction to the most important evidence related to a research question. They draw on a rapid desk- based review of published literature and consultation with subject specialists. Helpdesk reports are commissioned by the UK Department for International Development and other Government departments, but the views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of DFID, the UK Government, K4D or any other contributing organisation. For further information, please contact [email protected]. 1. Overview As climate change is set to worsen an already difficult environmental, political, economic, and social situation in Jordan, the State has adopted a large number of general and sector-specific climate policies, and actively engaged diverse actors on these issues at domestic, regional, and international levels. It has implemented many significant measures to adapt to climate change, especially regarding water and energy. However, while it has achieved some successes, important gaps and shortcomings in policy and action remain, due to a mix of legislative, regulatory, institutional, political, and economic factors. Beside Jordan’s overarching 2025 National Vision and Strategy and National Green Growth Plan, the country’s major policy on climate change is the National Climate Change Policy and Sector Strategic Guidance Framework, which has now been extended to 2030. In it, Jordan has put the emphasis on adaptation rather than mitigation, with the aim of achieving both socio-economic development and environmental resilience. The priority sectors it identifies include water, agriculture, energy, land use, and desertification. On water, the key policies are ‘Water for Life: Jordan’s Water Strategy (2008-2022)’, the National Water Strategy for 2016- 2025, and the Climate Change Policy for a Resilient Water Sector. On energy, the key policies are the Master Strategy in the Energy Sector (2015-2025), and the policies based on the 2012 Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Law (REEEL). The leading governmental body on climate change is the Ministry of Environment (MoE). At the National Climate Committee on Climate Change (NCCC), the MoE brings together other major ministries, including the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MWI), and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR), alongside participants from civil society, the private sector, and academia. So far, Jordan’s efforts on climate change, including on water and energy, have remained limited in ambition and action. One reason for this is that most policy-makers do not see the issue as a priority (compared to e.g. employment), in part due to a lack of understanding of its implications and costs and of the benefits of action. Another reason is that policy-making on the issue is not unified, with fragmented plans and institutions that lack consistency, comprehensiveness, links, and common purpose. Climate action at scale is also severely under-funded, and adaptation would require large investments, for example in more efficient infrastructure for water and energy. In addition, implementing adopted policies in specific sectors would push for major changes in people’s practices, but this could affect the interests or livelihoods of significant parts of the population (e.g. with higher prices on water and electricity). Similarly, population growth, combined with internal migration to cities and the large presence of refugees, has all led to competition for land use and essential goods and services, with difficult policy choices remaining. All this has led government to favour policies and actions that increase supply of scarce resources over ones that decrease demand for them. Internationally, Jordan remains highly dependent on regional and global exchanges, especially for water, food, and energy. There has been little regional policy-making and cooperation on climate change with neighbouring States. Regionally, it has sought to cooperate with Israel and Syria on water, but both countries have violated agreements and overused water to the detriment of Jordan. With energy, Jordan is attempting to diversify its providers of fossil fuels while increasing its domestic production of renewable energies (particularly wind and solar). It has had some success in this thanks to effective policies, but is still far from significant autonomy, and uncertainties remain about the pace of change its policies would enable. 2 2. State of knowledge and gaps Based on a rapid review, there is a medium-sized body of literature in English about the report topics. While there is a larger body of literature on climate change and its current and projected effects in Jordan, there is more limited yet sufficient information to specifically examine Jordanian policies and engagement. The type of information found reflects the two dimensions that DFID requested. One set of references is descriptive, laying out the formal laws, policies, commitments, and official action of Jordan. The other set of references is analytical, critically discussing whether and how Jordan implements its formal texts and engagements, and what the political economy behind this is. Taken as a whole, the knowledge base has a number of strengths. First, most of the references found are based on rigorous methodology, sourcing, and citation. The more recent publications typically draw on up-to-date information too, thus ensuring that publications from 2018-2019 reflect current affairs. The approaches used are often akin to meta-reviews or syntheses (which reflects the query), though a number of case studies on specific locations or policies are available as well. Second, the knowledge base is diverse and well-balanced is several valuable ways. To begin, it is based on a balanced mix of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method methods. Within each of these approaches, the specific methods used are fairly diversified too, though some methods predominate. For example, qualitative methods range from literature reviews to semi- structured interviews, group discussions, and ethnography (this last one being rare, however). In addition, the types of sources are diverse. They come from a balanced mix of academic, practitioner, and policy literature. Within each of these, there are fairly diverse sources, with a mix of Jordanian and other sources and authors, although non-Jordanian ones predominate. Further, there is good coverage of the report topics in several regards. There is a good balance between the literature on formal or technical aspects and that on political economy, mentioned above. There is also a good balance between general coverage of climate change, coverage of the water sector, and coverage of the energy sector. Regarding time frames, information is usually about Jordanian action over time, not just about one-off data points. Likewise, most authors pay attention to short-, medium-, and long-term time frames. Geographically, the knowledge base also provides good coverage of all governorates and of both urban and rural areas through country-level analyses, though studies on subnational cases only cover a handful of provinces. The most frequent level of analysis found is at the country level, followed by the regional level, then by the subnational level, and lastly by the global level. Much of the literature discusses macro- and meso-level variables, but there is also some attention to micro-level ones. Third, most findings are conclusive, not just indicative, and are largely consistent throughout the literature. They are also typically able to identify causalities, not just correlations. However, the English-language knowledge base also has some limitations. First, practitioner and policy publications typically adopt more descriptive and less analytical lenses, and the resulting political economy analyses coming out of them are usually less critical

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